Losing my mind with rhinitis

[Whatthedoodle]

I developed Rhinitis in my first pregnancy 5 years ago and it has never went away. I’ve had steroids, multiple cameras up my nose, MRI scans to look at my sinuses but there’s nothing that can be prescribed to help. I’ve tried saline solutions but the only thing that helps are over the counter nasal sprays which I know you aren’t supposed to use long term. Even when I’ve tried not using them and switching to prescribed sprays it hasn’t helped.

Anyway, I’m now pregnant with DC3 and It’s even worse. I can’t sleep without a nasal spray (eg Sudafed which isn’t supposed to be used in pregnancy but I can’t breathe without it). My nose completely blocks to the point no air will go in or out. It’s not just a stuffy nose it’s like non existent nostrils. The feeling makes me feel claustrophobic.

Anyway, I feel like I’ve tried everything so I feel like I’m wasting my time even asking for advice, but here I am. I just wondered, even post pregnancy if anyone has found anything that cures it? A lot of my work involved being on the phone, I once had a client ask me to put them through to someone else because they couldn’t understand me with my “cold”.

I know as far as pregnancy induced ailments go this is minor, it’s just so frustrating

The only problem with nasal sprays is that you get rebound congestion and feel bunged up because of the spray.
Dh takes a corticosteroid nasal spray and a daily antihistamine year round to deal with his sinus issues

@dementedpixie my GP prescribed a corticosteroid along with antihistamines which I tried but even after a few months there was no relief. This was about 2 years ago though so hopefully if I try again it’ll have a better effect. A family member had it for 10 years and one day it just completely disappeared so I’m praying for that happening to me.

I understand it’s a viscous cycle with nasals sprays, at the moment it’s so bad I’m just taking the temporary relief they give as it’s not worth the headaches that come along with being bunged up

I had rebound congestion from overusing sudafed for years. I had a deviated septum which is why I started using it, but made it far worse over the years by becoming addicted essentially to the Sudafed. Managed to get a septorhinoplasty in the end which has improved it (although pregnancy has made me stuffier again!) but before I had the surgery I had to come off the spray. It was hard but so worth it not to feel that suffocating stuffiness. I was feeling like it was manageable even just before I had the surgery. I weaned myself off by going cold turkey one nostril at a time, so I was still using the spray on one nostril so I could still breathe and then when the unsprayed nostril was 'cleansed' of the spray, I went cold turkey on the other one. I used flixonase spray while weaning myself off which helps purge the nasal tissue of the bad Sudafed stuff while helping breathe a bit better. It's horrible I know!

The one nostril method worked a dream for me, and even my Harley street surgeon said she'd never heard of it before but it I was a great idea!

@alessandra27 I never thought of doing one nostril at a time, thank you!! I’ll try that (when baby is born as it’s just too bad in pregnancy). But fingers crossed that does the trick! Do you remember how long it took for each nostril to cope without Sudafed?

Would it be worth having an allergy test to see if something else is causing a problem? I‘ve always had a bit of a problem with rhinitis but nowadays I know dust mites are a huge part of it. It‘s getting much worse for me now I‘m pregnant and my first port of call is to try and allergy proof better. Don‘t know if this applies to you.

@Sunshinedahlia It may be worth mentioning it to my gp. Ive tried antihistamines which haven’t worked but anything is worth looking into at this point!

I found Breathe Right strips at night genuinely helped with this, although I couldn't wear them every night in a row for weeks on end.

[quote Whatthedoodle]@alessandra27 I never thought of doing one nostril at a time, thank you!! I’ll try that (when baby is born as it’s just too bad in pregnancy). But fingers crossed that does the trick! Do you remember how long it took for each nostril to cope without Sudafed?[/quote]
I stopped using the spray a few months before my surgery, and if I recall correctly, it was about a week or so of feeling stuffy in the nostril I wasn't spraying, so about two weeks overall. You can do it!

@alessandra27 could you please tell me your symptoms? Thanks x